Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-02-17

himself separated from it by mile long
abyss and a rushing river; those who sougbt
it by seeming direct trail at the end Of
an hour lost aight of it completely. or.
abandoning the quest ami retracine their
steps, suddenly came upon the gap throuoh
which it was entered That which from tho
ridge appeared to be q copse of bushes ba-
side the tiny dwelling were trees 500 feet
high; the cultivated lawn before il. which
might have been covered by the travellers
handkerchief, was a field of 1000 acres.
The house itself was long, low, irregular
structure, chiefly of roof and veranda. pict-
uresquely upheld by rustic pillars Of pine.
with the bark still adhering, and covered
with vines and trailing roses Yet il was
evident that the GOODNESS produced by this
vast extent of cover was more than the ar
chitect, who had planned 1t under the influ.
ence of staring and bewildering sky, had
trustfully conceived, for it had to DO miti-
gated by blazing fires in open heartbs when
the thermometer marked 100 degrees in The
field beyond The dry, restless wind TINT
continually rocked the tall masts OF The
pines with sound like the distant sea, while
it stimulated outdoor physical exertion and
defied fatigue, left the sedentary jewellers in
these attitudes chilled in the shade they
conrted, or scorehed them with heat when
they ventured to bask supinely in the sun.
| White muslin curtains at the French win
dows, and rugs, skins and heavy furs dis
persed in the interior, with certain other
charming but incongruous details of furni-
ture, marked the inconsistencies of the eli
mate.
There was coquettish indication of this
in the costume of Miss Kate Scott as she
stepped out on the veranda that morning.
A mans broad-brimmed Panama hat, partly
unsexed by twisted, gayly colored scarf,
but retaining enough character to give
piquancy to the pretty curves of the face
beneath, protected her from the sun; red
| flannel shirt-another spoil from the enemy
and thick jacket shielded her from the
austerities Of the morning breeze. But the
next inconsistency was peculiarly her own
Miss Kate always wore the freshest and
| lightest of white cambria skirts, without the
| least reference to the temperature To the
practical sanatory remonstrances of her
! brother -in-law, and to the conventional
criticism Of her sister, she opposed the same
defense: "How else is one to tell when il is
summer in this ridiculous climates And
then, wooden is stuffy, color draws the sun.
and ono at least knows when one is clean or
dirty" Artistically the result was far from
unsatisfactory. 1t was apretty figure under
the somber pines, against the gray granite
and the steely sky, and seemed to lend the
following fields from which the flowers had
already fled floral relief of color | do not
think the few masculine wayfarers Of that
locality objected TO it; indeed, some had
betrayed an indiscreet admiration, and had
curiously followed the invitation of Miss
Hates warmly colored figure until they had
encountered the invincible indifference of
Miss Rates cold gray eyes. With these
manifestations her brother-in-law did not
concern himself; he had perfect confidence
in her unqualified disinterest in the neigh
boring humanity, and permitted her to
wander in her solitary picturesqueness. or
accompanied her when She rode in her dark
green habit, with equal freedom from
anxiety.
For Miss Scott, although only 20, had
already subjected most of her maidenly ilu-
sions to mature critical analyses. She had
voluntarily accompanied her sister and
mother to California, in the earnest hope
that nature contained something worth say
ing to her, and was disappointed to find she
had already discounted its value in the pages
of books She hoped to find vague free
dom in this unconventional life thus opened
to her, or rather to show others that she
knew how intelligently to appreciate it, but
as yet she was only able to express it in the
one detail of dress already alluded to. Some
of the men, and nearly all of the women, she
had met thus far, she was amazed to find
valued the conventionalities she believed she
despised, and were voluntarily assuming the
chains she thought she had thrown or In
stead of learning anything from them, these
children OF nature had bored her with eager
questionings regarding the civilization she
had abandoned, or irritated her with crude
limitations of it for her benefit. "Fancy,"
she had written to a friend in Boston, amy
calling on Sue Murphy, who remembered tine
Bonner tragedy, and who once shot a grizzly
that was prowling round her cabin, and
think of her begging me 70 lend her my sack
for pattern, and wanting to know if polo
nays were still worn" She remembered
more bitterly the romance that had ticklcd
her earlier fancy, told OF two college friends
of her brother-in-law's who were living the
perfect life" in the mines, laboring in the
bitches with copy Of Homer in their pockets,
and writing letters Of the purest philosophy
under the free air Of The pines How, COM
ing Unexpectedly on them in their Arcadia.
the party found them uppresentatle through
dirt, and thenceforsh unknowabIe through
domestic complications that had filed their
Arcadian cabin with haif-bred children
Much of this disillusion she had kept
within her own heart, from feeling of
pride, or only lightly touched upon it in her
relations with her mother and sister. For
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Scott had no idols to
shatter no enthusiasm to subdue Firmly
and unalterably conscious of their own
superiority to the life they led and the COM
munity that surrounded them, they accepted
their duties cheerfully, and performed them
conscientiously. Those duties were loyalty
to Hale's interests and vague missionary
work among the neighbors, which, like
most missionary work, consisted rather i'll
ii:aking their own ideas understood than in
understanding the ideas of their audience.
Old Mrs. SCOTS zeal partly religious,
ain inheritance from her Puritan ancestry;
Mrs. Hales was the affabiity of a gentle
woman and the obligation of her position
To shis was added the slight languor of the
cultivated American wife, whose health has
been affected by the birth of her first child,
and whose views of marriage and maternity
were slightly tinged with gentle scepticism
She was sincerely attached to her husband,
swho dominated the household, 2 like the rest
Of his "women folk" with the faint con
seriousness of that division of service which
renders the position of the sultan of a serag-
lilo at once so prominent and so precarieus
The attitude of John Hale in his family cir
Gle was dominant because it had never been
subjected to criticism or comparison; and
perilous for the same reason.
Mrs. Hale presently joined her sister on tho
veranda, and, shading her eyes with mar
row white hand, glanced on the prospect
with polite interest and ladYlike urbanitv.
The searching sun, which. as Miss Kate once
intimated, was "vulgarity ITSELF" stared at